


Two Lips; Indirect

by JadeDraggy2017



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Crying, Day 1 Food, M/M, ShuAke Confidant Week, Talking To Dead People, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16450061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeDraggy2017/pseuds/JadeDraggy2017
Summary: It's Ren's last night in Tokyo, and all he wants is a cup of coffee.ShuAke Confidant Week; Day 1 Prompt: Food.





	Two Lips; Indirect

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I would only do one of these... Guess I did two.

  
  
  
  
“So, kid,” Sojiro leaned on Leblanc’s counter, watching Ren with a fond smile. “It’s your last night in Tokyo. And you honestly didn’t make any plans?”  
  
Ren stood on the other side of the counter top, out in the café area. Morgana sat on the seat of one of the stools. He’d earned his spot there. Ren tapped the toes of his right shoe against the ground and shrugged.  
  
“Everyone’s taking me home tomorrow. I felt like staying up late would make the drive more difficult.” He shrugged. “I know Futaba said we should have a giant sleepover, but-”  
  
“-But you passed on it.” The man laughed. He reached up ran one finger along the side of his face and over his beard, “You know you’re more responsible than I ever gave you credit for. I never gave you credit for a lot of things. I don’t know if I’ve told you-”  
  
“You’ve told me enough, Boss…” Ren returned his smile. He could feel his lips pushing up his cheeks as he thought of all the fond memories he had here. His eyes roamed around the room, from Sojiro, to the Saiyuri, to the yellow phone-  
  
Ren glanced at the empty stool beside Morgana. His smile twisted a bit as it withdrew from his face.  
  
“Actually, Boss, if you don’t mind there is one thing I’d like to do for my last night here.”  
  
“Oh?” The man stood up straight. “Go ahead, what is it.”  
  
“I just want to use the coffee pot one last time.”  
  
“Hmn?” Sojiro raised his eyebrows confused. “You want that? You know you don’t need to ask.”  
  
Ren lowered his head for a moment, “I know, but its all I want to do before I leave.”  
  
There was a moment of pause between them creating a small stretch of silence. One that Morgana quickly filled.  
  
“You should have asked Boss for some good-bye sushi!” The cat raised his head to look over the counter at Futaba’s father.  
  
“Go ahead and use it all you like.” Sojiro nodded as he walked out from behind the counter. “I’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
“Thanks, Boss,” Ren took a step back to let the man pass him.  
  
Sojiro stopped at the door and turned back to look Ren over, “And you know, if you can convince your folks to let you come back to Shujin for your senior year, I’ll keep the room open for you.”  
  
Ren’s eyes lit up, “You’ll even get me a real mattress frame?”  
  
“Don’t push your luck, kid.”  
  
Ren smiled, he wanted to laugh, but held it in. He would be happy to come back to Leblanc for his final year of high school, even if it meant sleeping on a mattress stacked on crates. As soon as the door was shut he turned to Morgana.  
  
“Are you going to stay up with me?”  
  
“No, and don’t you stay up too late either! Tomorrow is a long car ride! You don’t want to fall asleep on the way there!”  
  
Ren reached out and pat the feline on the head.  
  
“I’m just going to make one cup.”  
  
“Coffee before bed is a terrible idea.” Morgana jumped down from his seat and trotted upstairs leaving Ren alone in the café.  
  
He walked around the counter and grabbed his apron. As he tied it on he hummed and nodded his head to no one.  
  
“Let’s see… You’re going to have the usual right?” Ren started speaking out loud to empty café. He was certain Morgana could probably hear him uttering away to himself, but he didn’t care. He reached out and grabbed the container of Brazilian blend and turned back around to the empty counter and started up and old conversation.  
  
“I know I ask this all the time, but do you have ‘regular’ orders at other shops?”  
  
He approached the coffee pot and began to scoop out beans as he watched the empty space across the counter.  
  
“Right, you don’t make it a habit to become a ‘regular’ because of your fans. And flirty baristas.” Ren turned and grabbed a pitcher to add water before pouring it into the pot. “You don’t seem to mind me though.” He winked at the empty café.  
  
Overhead a light flickered, and he took a deep breath before sighing.  
  
Ren closed his eyes and pressed start on the machine as he thought about previous topics spoken about across the counter.  
  
“So you have one girl constantly making you hearts in your lattes? Too bad she couldn’t get you a free drink.”  
  
He pushed off the machine eyes still closed. By now he knew every inch of the little kitchen and every word of the conversation.  
  
“I wonder if you would stop coming here if I started making hearts in your coffee?” He swung open the door to the fridge and searched for the milk. Ren reached for it slowly before acting surprised and quickly pulling his head out to shout back at the empty counter. “No, I’m not trying to get rid of you! I don’t even know how to make latte art…”  
  
He reached back into the fridge and grabbed the milk, “Oh, if I learn you’ll put me on your food blog?”  
  
He stopped talking for a second to pick up a little tin pitcher and turned toward the steaming wand. As he held the pitcher up to is he pulled out his phone form his back pocket and flipped through a few saved images. He had to pull up a months old screen shot, as the blog the original image was hosted on had long since been taken down.  
  
The old domain purged when it fell inactive.  
  
“I see you put me on your blog… such a ‘lovely’ comment.”  
  
Ren shook his head, he felt dejected, but still managed to smile.  
  
_‘The coffee is good but the adornments need work. This ‘heart’ looks like a lopsided apple.’  
  
_ He sighed and tilted his head to the side, he set his phone down on the counter, “Ann says I’m getting better at it. She said my last one looked almost like pumpkin.”  
  
Ren turned his attention back to the steaming milk, and scoffed at no one, “No, it doesn’t matter that I was trying to make a cat. You’ll see, I’ll get this down. If only to spite you.”  
  
Once the milk finished steaming he returned to the coffee. He poured one fresh brewed coup and tilted it as he started to add the steamed milk.  
  
“So you said you liked my last one,” he muttered down to the cup. Ren’s eyes were half closed as he let out a soft sight. It was harder to keep his breathing even as he concentrated on the design. Just the tension of trying to get it right. “But you didn’t put it on your blog. I thought now that I was making recognizable shapes you’d share it with your fans.”  
  
He finished applying the first layer of milk and turned back to the steamer, this time to  create a foam.  
  
“It has to be ‘impressive’ to earn a repeat spot huh? So, generic hearts and cats won’t cut it…” Ren bit his bottom lip as he watched the foam form in the little pitcher. At this point the smell of coffee was over whelming his nose. And the repeated use of the steamer was sending hot air up into his eyes.  
  
His glasses fogged over, and his eyes watered a bit. Exclusively from the heat.  
  
“I’ve finally figured out one design that will put me back on your blog,” He picked up the mug again and began adding the foam. It was much trickier getting the shape he wanted this time. “No, I don’t want to talk about the casino. I’ve been practicing this for weeks. You’re going to love it.”  
  
He set the pitcher down and spun around on his heels to rush back to the kitchen’s cabinets and grab a shaker of cinnamon and a little bottle of caramel.  
  
“Not only is it ‘impressive’. It’s flirty. Better than anything your fans or annoying barista girls could give you.”  
  
He returned to the coffee cup and began to lightly apply the cinnamon. His hand shaking just a little, trembling from the need for accuracy. This was the last time after all.  
  
“Futaba gave me a list of videos… I watched them instead of studying for my test- Don’t you yell at me, too. I already heard it from Makoto.”  
  
He licked his lips and caught the condensation from the steam that had been on his glasses. Just little drops of water, purely from the work he was doing. They didn’t carry a hint of salt to them.  
  
He finished off with the caramel, just a few lines of it here and there before he stood back from his work and breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
“I’ve gotten faster at it too.” He picked up the cup and set it down on the counter.  
  
With a bright smile he looked out at the empty room. No matter how much he felt his cheeks brimming with heat from embarrassment, he found himself blinking constantly to keep the water from building up on his eye lashes.  
  
“You’re right. That is me.” Ren slowly took off his apron and set it down to the side. “I’ve made tons of coffee- and had to drink every cup to get that just right.”  
  
He walked around the counter slowly and rolled his shoulders.  
  
“Yeah, I made it that way, intentionally… So that when you drink it, you have to meet my lips.”  
  
He took a seat and turned to look at the empty bar stool. “Don’t be an ass. Drink it hair first… Who says such awful things?”  
  
Ren returned a polite laugh that only existed in the echo of his mind. He sat up straight to reach over the counter and grab his phone. He scrolled through to another screen shot.  
  
_Won’t ever come here again. The art is nice, but this barista actually thinks I’ll kiss him._  
  
Ren looked down at the picture of a coffee cup with an elaborate foam recreation of the top of his head. His hair sculpted form foam, glasses made of caramel, the milk design made to bring the top of his upper lip to the edge of the cup.  
  
“What is this supposed to mean? That I’m not worthy of a kiss?” He turned the phone out to no one. “I’ll have you know I’m very kissable. I have to beat off girls with a stick every day. You’re not the only popular one around here…”  
  
He set his phone down and turned back to his cup.  
  
“What do you say, you give me one? Once the palace is done. And the Phantom Thieve are no more. A kiss to celebrate. How about it?” He turned and took a deep breath and smiled.  
  
“I accept your promise…”  
  
Ren reached down and picked up his coffee cup. On top he’d made another face with he lips pressed up against the edge of the cup. He’d made long wavy hair out of foam that just barely hung off the edges of the porcelain, and he’d covered it with cinnamon to create the illusion of a brunet. Across it he’d put a few streaks of caramel, for high lights. And used it to draw closed eyes.  
  
_“Promise me…”_  
  
He held the bottom of the cup in both hands and took a deep breath as he inhaled the smell.  
  
“That’s just like you, Goro. I do all the work and keep all my promises. And in the end, all your promises to me are returned indirectly.”  
  
Ren closed his eyes.  
  
And took a sip.


End file.
